Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Humument

Prior to commencing my tentative venture into the innovative world of “A Humument,” I fully expected that I would find a “treated” book both distasteful and disrespectful towards the original author. Hours later, however, after emerging from an entanglement of selective literary prowess and seductive artwork, I found that my preconceptions had been shattered. “A Humument,” though anomalous and perplexing at best, serves to beautifully mutate the original Victorian novel into a unique artistic expression, transforming rather than destroying the initial meaning.

The primary themes evident throughout this text are those of erotic impressions (my favorite occurs on page 244, on which the text “ceaseless sliding tower burnished piston-rising and falling, fully the perfect skill of man” appears in the forefront of a not-so-subtle phallic “tower”), a certain “Toge” and his struggle with coalescing the struggles of love with the joys of art, connections to “Irma,” and expressions of creativity. The reoccurrence of these themes formed what I found to be a sort of false narrative. While there is a roundabout way to follow the subjects and ideas throughout the text, any direct proclamation of a storyline is, to me, incorrect.

I believe the main conflict within this work was that of how to express creativity. Is it through love, as is insinuated periodically, or is it best portrayed in art or poetry? By combining expressions of all three in this text, the author effectively conveyed this conflict, meaning the art ultimately added to the story.

SYLLABUS

New College of Florida
Spring 2007
20318 Advanced Poetry:Visual, Concrete, and Avant-garde Poetry.
W 12:30-3:20 pm, Room: CFA 212
Prof: Nick Carbó
email: ncarbo@ncf.edu, ncarbo@aol.com
Office hours: PMD 215, Tuesday 2-5pm, and by appointment.
Required texts:
Modern Visual Poetry by Willard Bohn, (University of Delaware Press, 2001). ISBN: 0874137101
The Sienese Shredder # 1, Winter 2006-2007. Edited by Brice Brown and Trevor Winkfield. (Sienese Shredder Editions, 2006). ISBN: 0978710800
A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel by Tom Phillips, (Thames & Hudson, 2005). ISBN: 0500285519
1. The work itself. The main focus of a creative writing class is the writing, objects, and visual texts produced by the students. I expect each one of you to have completed 10 finished and finely crafted poems/visual texts by the end of term. You will participate in several in-class writing exercises that will hone your sense of craft, expand your imagination, and lead you to explore various forms of creative written and visual expression. The work generated through these exercises will also be used for discussion to be submitted the next week. There can be no excuse for not having any work to submit to class. An unfinished piece can have many possibilities.
2. Final project. You must complete a final poetry/visual text project that will count heavily towards your final grade. The project can consist of designing and producing your own chapbook of poetry, creating a World Wide Web site with your poems, or making a 5-10 minute performance video of your poems. The project has to be done this semester for this particular class. Previous work for other classes does not qualify.
3. Reading assignments. The class will have its own blog space where students will post their responses to the assigned books. Posts should be at least three paragraphs in length. This will be a major part of your grade. The class blog is: www.visponewcollege.blogspot.com
4. Attendance. You may have two absences (excused or unexcused). Your final grade is heavily determined by your presence in class. Constant tardiness will be considered an absence. So, two late marks are equal to one absence. Coming in 30 minutes late and acting like nothing is wrong with that means you are obviously in denial that you will soon earn an F (not satisfactory) for the class. Being present for attendance at the start of class then leaving the class for periods longer than 10 minutes will be considered an absence. After two absences you will get an automatic F for the class. Don’t blame the professor for giving you an F because of tardiness of absences. You can earn an F as well as earn an A for the class. You are responsible for keeping track of your own absences.
5. Annoying cell phone ringing in class will earn you an F for the day.